The Unclaimed Prize
by aelursadgod
Summary: It's not fair, Jareth thinks.


Synopsis: It's not fair, Jareth thinks.

He'd planned it meticulously for years. Time and time again he'd played the scenes in his mind; obsessing over every little detail. From the light in her eyes and her initial distrust to the dust on the shelves where his red book rested, it was all checked and accounted for. Jareth was used to having things go his way, and Sarah's departure from his kingdom had just been a little anomaly. The extra effort he put into their reunion had just been for his peace of mind.

The first few minutes of their meeting had gone according to plan. Sarah had less innocence in her eyes and more wrinkles on the corners of her mouth, witnesses of good times and little joys that Jareth couldn't help but be bitter about. Her voice was laden with the firmness that she couldn't have ever dreamed about having in her teenage years; and her words held an edge that sparked a certain fear within him. The Sarah before him had little to do with the Sarah in his dreams, and he was surprised to find that he welcomed the change.

_"__He didn't mean it."_

She'd welcomed him with a slight gasp and knowing eyes. Toby, with the red book in his hands, was looking at him from behind her. Sarah simply rested a hand on her brother, and told him to go to his room.

"_What's said is said,_" the familiar words sparked a familiar light in her eyes. Nevertheless he wasn't treated to the fiery Sarah who had driven him mad in the Labyrinth. "_You are allowed to bend the rules a little, Goblin King, I remember that quite clearly. I don't want my brother to run the Labyrinth, as I'm sure he'll want to do. I'd like to run for myself._"

He'd been amused by her offer, and with a gracious nod of his head they soon found themselves Underground. "_Have fun,_" he'd said this time, certain that she'd lose. He'd learnt how to bend the Labyrinth to his will aeons before Sarah's kind had come into existence, and just like he'd allowed her this last adventure, he'd allow himself some fun before ultimately claiming his prize.

For that was Sarah's sole purpose in his life; she was Life's gift to him. The sole thing to throw some chaos in his carefully balanced life; she would not yield, she would not bend, and after an eternity of playing god within his kingdom he felt he needed something that he could not control.

Sarah's ecstatic grin as she ran into his castle filled him with a joy he'd longed for twelve years. It was pleasing to note that just like before, she'd naïvely taken the most important things at face value. The Labyrinth's will was easy to mold in many ways, but its birth had given it a sole, firm purpose not even he could change: reunion. When mortal runners wished their children to him, they ran the Labyrinth to reunite themselves with their kids, as Sarah had done. When a sole runner ran it… they'd reunite themselves with whoever was at the exit.

As Jareth would later explain to a confused Sarah, her run through the Labyrinth had been a wedding ceremony. She emerged from the shifting maze as his Queen, and he'd received her in the castle as her King.

His triumph was to be short-lived. He had to expect it, as he'd long ago learnt that Sarah's very own nature was to be the contradiction to his own. He'd taken her in his arms, and swept in the emotion of the moment after explaining her situation, he'd kissed her. He didn't know what he'd expected, but the stillness in her form was certainly not something he welcomed.

_"__Jareth…" she said, placing a firm hand on his chest and slowly making some distance between them. "I-I… this is all very confusing," she raked a hand through her hair. It was plain as the day that she was angry at Jareth's trickery, but there was a certain sadness in her eyes that spoke of compassion and understanding. _

_"__It will take some time, I know," he said, feeling quite restless. He'd thought she would feel angry and betrayed, two emotions he knew well enough to expect and control. But she was struggling to say something, and just like the fatal day twelve years ago, he dreaded to find that they'd turn his world upside down again._

_"__No, you don't understand. Jareth… even if I wasn't mad at you for basically forcing me into a marriage with you, I could never see you as more than a friend."_

_He was the one confused now._

_"__Jareth, I'm a lesbian."_

Life wasn't fair, Jareth thought. Sarah's companionship in the last years had been a welcome change in his life, but he'd learnt that she had never been meant to be his. An eternity to be reminded of the sole prize he could never claim seemed like a very wicked punishment for an eternity of defying everything to get his way. A fitting basis of comparison, if he ever needed one.


End file.
